Thanksgiving Pictures

Jack and Mol havin' fun with Granny and Grampa
Erk carvin' it up!

Mikie - need I say more!

hey good lookin' boys

Granny got the kids the COOLEST stockings!
the kids got to help decorate Granny and Grampa's tree after we ate the big meal. what a cool tradition to start :)

Silly kids
I wonder where they get their silliness from?

Fresh Pies

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Molly and I are waiting for the pumpkin pie to come outta the oven. Erk and the boys already headed to Granny's to lend a hand :) We'll head over soon. Molly is ticked at me cause she wants to "pie" which means pour sugar and salt into her own little bowl and mix 'em up. Then she wanted to wash her hands for 20 minutes, and when that was ended, she got all yanked. Now she's trying to get her coat off the hanger and head out without me!

It was so cute this morning, all 3 kids hopped into our bed and Jack got Bean to come up too. He was so proud that all of our family was in one place :)

Mikie cracked us up too - he tells me, "Mom, Jack is wearing the same shirt in all these pictures!" They are Jack's school pictures. HA!

Ohh, Molly has my wallet out, WOMEN! I'd better go - happy turkey day!

More Last Weekend Pix

Pa, Jack, Ernie, Mikie and Nanny Loo
preparing the cupcakes for Auntie Jane's bday blowout :)

how embarASSing! :)

Little new baby Emerie! Precious baby!

on the combine with Uncle Howard
how cool is THAT!?

Thought these pix were definately worth sharing! I've gotta get them scrapbooked too. Fun to show people on our website the farmin' life that the boys surely enjoy :) The boys are playing "hot lava" in the family room hopping from one pillow and chair to the next. Hunter and Molly are fast asleep upstairs. Ahhhhh, peaceful afternoon :) At least at this moment! Hope you've had a good one...

Back Home

Well, no puppy came home with us today. But it's all good. We woulda had a much longer car ride and a looooong night tonight with a new pup :) One of these days we'll get a pup, just not today. Kate, they are all so precious, thanks for letting us spend so much time with 'em!

Molly is in bed and the boys are watching a chef show with Erk. We are all pretty tired (what is it about a car ride that does that to ya?). I'm sure Mom and Dad and Emily are glad to be home too!

I think that's about all I've got for ya tonight - hoping for a good night's rest! Sleep well all!

Hey Puppy Puppy

Puppies!

Jack's new buddy

We had a riot today! The boys got to ride on a combine (thanks again Uncle Howard), we played with adorable puppies and went to a birthday dinner. What a great day - 5 hours away from home. Erk is home with Mol for the weekend (perhaps I already mentioned that part, I'm so freaking tired right now I could sleep sitting up) and the boys are here with me. Daddy is having fun with Miss Mol and it's been easier sleeping and eating out without the cute lil' pumpkin along for the trip. More later!

What we've been up to...

Molly emptying Hunter's baby wipes into the silverware dishwasher thingy
Jack continuing to think it's summertime with his shorts on
how Molly eats her cereal
the rats nest living in Mikie's hair

give me back my book!
Bean snoozing

Molly in a onesie & bathing suit & shoes on the wrong feet. When I asked what she was doing? "Dore... wimming pooo" (headed to the store for a swimming pool)

Caught RED HANDED!

Bean Dog

I just had to show you this pic - isn't she RARE!

Interupted

10:22pm – finally turned in for the night last night.

2:00am – Jack comes in whispering “Mom? Mommmmm?”

“Hmmm?” I respond without opening my mouth.

“My foot hurts, really really bad.”

So I roll over to get up and head to heat up the heating pad. He has had this before in the night, I think it’s growing pains?! I also grab the Tylenol. He climbs back in bed.

“Mom, what if I’m not really sick and I take medicine?”

“Are you not really in pain then?”

“Well, I don’t know…” as he couldn’t decide which foot it was that needed the heating pad.

Huh.

Back in bed I climb, doze off to sleep.

3:11am – Molly is talking/crying.

I try to ignore it but she won’t quit and it’s unusual. So I get up. She’s stuffed up and says,

“Me ni-nights wif Momma.”

So I figure it’s worth a shot. Get her all comfy in bed with me (and Bean and Rocky). Rocky all of a sudden thinks I’m a dead animal or something and starts rolling all over me. Finally he calms down. Molly sneezes.

“Kee-nex!”

I do the in the dark mom-thing and swipe my hand by her nose to see if she really needed one. Yep, slimy snot on my hand.

Back outta bed. Get a “kee-nex” and wipe her nose. She keeps moving around and talking, saying cute stuff, but keeping us both awake. I let it go until about

3:19am – put Molly back in bed.

4:02am – Mikie comes in, his bed is “all messed up” can I fix it? He moves around so much in the night that his quilt and all end up on the floor. I tell him to just get into bed with me. He does, and apparently can’t sleep. Ends up going downstairs to “lay by the heater” at 5:40am.

5:51am - I hear Jack up. He goes quietly downstairs to join Mikie.

6:24am – I yell to the boys to shut their bedroom door (they are goofin off pretty loud).

6:57am – Bean is barking non-stop. I try to ignore it but know Molly will be awake now.

7:05am – all 3 kids and 2 dogs are in bed with me and wondering why I don’t wanna get up yet.

And I was looking forward to bedtime? :)

We Can Go Bowling...

Look at that technique!

Molly heard the music on and started gettin' down :)


Nice Mikie!

Here I sit with Bean dog dreaming and her paws jolting back and forth as if she were running. She’s laying on my legs. Rocky (he’s here overnight) is not too far either and seems to be having the same dream as Bean.

The kids are in bed – I must admit it was kinda sorta something I looked forward to today. I don’t really like to admit that, sounds terrible – but today my patience was worn. We went bowling this morning. The kids have anticipated it all week. Since they cancelled the kids portion of bowling tomorrow night for our church group, we figured we’d make it bowling one way or the other. Next time I think I’ll get someone to watch Mol! She wanted to touch all of the bowling balls and “help.” She wondered what all of the buttons were for and insisted at times it was “me turn!” WOMEN :) She’s so funny. The boys had fun for the most part – Jack was feeling like he had to wait too long for his turns, but who doesn’t remember feeling that way when you were a kid bowling?!

From there, we walked in town to lunch. That is truly something I enjoy – eating out with the kids. Having their undivided attention. Jack wasn’t too happy at his portion size of chicken strips, but admitted later that he was full. Molly had ants in her pants there too, but overall a very nice time.

Then on home for Mol’s nap and quiet time. Umm, not really quiet. The boys wanted to play their video game so we opted to do that. I say “we” cause they like me to play too and I do enjoy it. Then we went outside for a bit, they came in and were so loud they woke Mol up. By this point the boys are fighting non-stop. Those types of situations where I say out loud, “someone is gonna get hurt!” and 2 seconds later one of them comes to me crying, telling me what the other had done. Then 3 minutes later, the other one has retaliated for the previous act and I’m being told all the details. I encourage them to go outside. They want me to come too. I encourage them to find something to do – they want me to play too. It’s all good and wonderful, but a breather sometimes helps refill the patience tank. I’ll admit, knowing Erk will be gone thru Monday deer hunting makes it harder when you feel bored on day #1 of him being gone. Anywho – so we get the arts and crafts stuff out. That lasts about 10 minutes. It’s 2:30pm, what will we do now?

So we pull all of the recycling together and head out. The car needs gas, we have Pepsi cans to return, and I just used Molly’s last diaper. Wouldn’t ya know we ran into Mom at the store! It was so funny, we pulled in right next to her as she was getting out of her car. Mol was all about “where Nanny go?” once we parted ways in the store. Cute. She sure loves her Granny and Nanny!

Then we are back home. It’s 4:30p. Do I make dinner? What to do… The kids had picked out a toy each at the store and I told them on the way home that I didn’t wanna hear anyone was “bored” the rest of the day. By 5p Jack is “telling me” to make dinner. Humph. Needless to say, we did eat a pretty early, but with the gap between then and bedtime approaching, I perked up – as did they. And Bean and Rocky were chasing each other and barking. Jack started chasing Molly around the dining room table and they kept giggling. Mikie got a shoe thrown at him and Jack laughed, only to get punched back by Mike. Whew…

But here I am now, a quiet house. Here is a little funny side note, as I started to type this, Rocky went to the bedroom door (that’s shut to keep the light from keeping Mol awake) and started whining. Insistently enough that I knew somethin’ was up. So I quickly got up and he started the neck lurching that any dog owner knows. I ran down the stairs with him and quick opened the front door and out he went to “toss his cookies.” Bean went out too. I wondered to myself, “where is my camera?” I looked in all of the places I would normally put it and couldn’t find it. Hmmmm. “I bet it’s still in the car…” “Will it get cold tonight?” “I need to take better care of my camera…” So I went for it – slipped some shoes on and went to check the car. Our garage is a bit creepy in the dark but with 2 dogs out there? Funny part about this story is I’m in a long sleeve t-shirt and undies. There I am in the darkness of night with only the house light on, running out to the pitch black garage in my Fruit of the Loom MOM underwear (don’t worry, they are FULL coverage) only to find the car empty. The camera was in the case by the front door. Inside…

Questions, questions, questions...

Top of the mornin' to ya. Jack is standing here in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. He thinks it's summer all year 'round. The boys have been fighting about who can be Obi Wan and who can be Hans Solo. Tears have been shed. Molly is wearing 2 different shoes, a summer hat and some cute tights today.

At one point this morning we were all in our little bathroom upstairs, Jack in the shower, Molly trying to get in with him, Mikie had to poop and I was trying to get towels and stuff situated. Then Mol gets in the shower as Jack gets out and she pees on the floor. Mikie saying the whole time "I need privacy!" What a funny bunch...

Today the kiddos are headed to Nanny and Papa's house - they are wound up pretty tight anticipating that :) I wonder if Jack will put pants on willingly? I wonder if Mikie will agree to be Hans Solo? I wonder if Mol will opt to wear her silly hat? I hope your day is going like mine :)

Some Pix of Our Trip Last Week

This Mornin...

Good morning -

Must be something in the water here at our house. These past few days, the boys are fighting somethin' fierce. They were at it yesterday playing a video game, silly arguments, but big ones none the less. And this morning it starts with accusations flying, tears falling and words being yelled. Whew. Thank the Lord for a new found patience that He restored in me after having last week "off." I haven't yelled. I haven't lost my patience (YET). I've been able to keep a cool and collected head, despite my short night. Jack fell outta bed and needed help with making his bed up again, Erk had some log sawin' going on that probably woke the neighbors (sorry babe, but you know...) and I ended up on the couch shortly after 4am only to lay there awake and having to share the couch with Bean. She wouldn't move. I had my feet on her, gently nudged her, she just lay there zonked. Eventually, after attempting to sleep on two of the three pillow cushions, I insisted forcefully that she MOVE. She did. This was around 5:45a. I coulda just gotten up for the day then, but I finally started to doze off. Then 7:24a-ish, 3 little turds and one hubby were ready for the day and saying goodbye, and hello to me laying there. So here we go - laundry pilin' up and wearing wind pants today. Here comes Molly singing "rock a baby" over and over. So cute :)

Thanks

Hey all! We are home now! We had a great and uneventful drive home. When we pulled in the driveway, Andy was here mowing and soon after my folks pulled in with the kiddos. It's so great to be home and with the kids again. We can't THANK YOU mom and dad, enough, for taking such incredible care of the kids while we were gone. THANK YOU! And Mom and Dad L, we are glad Dad is back home now from the hospital. Hopefully things will go better this week for him!

For now, here I sit with Bean dog sleeping on the bed, saying hi to you and watching some Law and Order. Sleep well! I'll try to post some pix tomorrow. Night!

Buffet Etiquette?

Hey! How we doin? I opted to stay back in the motel room while the men folk went hunting this morning. I've enjoyed it these past few days, but today wanted to get a little scrapbookin' done. I'm working on the kids Halloween pages. Fun stuff!

It's a chilly day here in Iowa - but bright and sunny. Hope you are having a good one! I'll get the call from Erk and he'll come pick me up for some lunch "in town." We have 3 choices, so we've been to a few of the restaurants more than once. We did hit a new place last night - literally new - it had burned down last year. It was good eats and a buffet - which lends this question, when in a buffet line, do you just reach across to grab the goods on the other side of the buffet or do you walk around the buffet and scoop it up then?

Here I Am

To be able to stand in the middle of a mowed field and take in fresh air – nothing pressing, just the sounds of birds, the wind and a dog off in the distance… ahh :) I stood there in the field with my pants that are wet up to my knees (quite a soggy field), and I remembered floating in the pool in Florida a few years back and closing my eyes – telling myself to remember that moment of true relaxation. Well, today that moment has become two moments to remember. One of heat and tropical sounds (aka pool splashes) and today of cool breezes and rosy cheeks, along with the silence that comes from middle-of-nowhere-but-you-wouldn’t-wanna-be-anywhere-else ville.